Sakura's Gift
by kawarimi
Summary: A bittersweet inspiration for a twopart SasuSaku exchange, taken from the concept of giving chocolates and flowers for Valentine's Day and White Day in Japan.
1. Chapter 1 Sakura's Gift

_Disclaimer: Naruto series and characters not owned by me._

_Happy Valentine's Day. _

* * *

"Sasuke, please live." 

It was a simple request, only three words. As much as she tried to hold onto a cheerful expression, the tears spilled over and onto his sleeve. His arms were around her.

How many times had she had been the one to hold him like this? Worrying over him, praying with every bit of her being, hoping beyond what she dared to hope, that he would be all right.

And he was. He was before her. He was holding her. He was holding her gently. That feeling alone only made her want to cry harder.

While she had continued to relentlessly hope she and Naruto would find him and save him before it was too late, Sakura had stopped dreaming for any return of her feelings for him. She had put all her energy in rescuing him so she could ignore the heart that was breaking into pieces inside, so she could go on, so she could keep moving and have hope of finding him again.

She reached up with a shaky hand and a fragile smile to caress his face, pressing bloody fingerprints onto his pale cheek. He let her.

Sakura stiffened slightly as Sasuke leaned down, his lips gently, but fervently, meeting hers, soaking in her sweetness through his mouth. For a moment, the world dropped away. But it was only a moment.

She felt him pull away, and then proceed to press his lips to her forehead. It was then that she whispered to him, "Sasuke, please live."

It was a simple request, only three words. She held out his humanity in front of him, he grasped onto the strength she offered him. He let her in.

No, she had always been there.

* * *

A/N: This was written very quickly for a Valentine's Day contest for the SasuSaku fc on NF and is the first of two parts. The second part will be done for the White Day contest. At least I hope this counts as a Valentine's theme even though the holiday isn't specifically used, the theme did inspire the concept of Sakura giving Sasuke a gift, although it certainly didn't turn out to be the traditional chocolates (but there is a vague reference to something along those lines). 


	2. Chapter 2 Sasuke's Return

_Disclaimer: Naruto series and characters not owned by me._

_Happy White Day. _

* * *

Sasuke stared down at the trio of gravestones that marked the location where the other team members' ashes were buried. They had all died during the mission to bring him back. They died for him. They died because of him. One of the reasons he had left was so they wouldn't be involved; he didn't count on their continued dedication to him. He didn't understand why they had been so desperate to bring him back. He may never understand, but the least he could do was continue living for the sake of their memories, and maybe one day the answer will come to him. 

Kakashi. He had been their teacher, but even more to Sasuke. The man had earned the young boy's rarely bestowed respect. They communicated in a way that allowed them both to stay within their comfort level, yet in times of necessity, the message passed clearly between them. He had become not unlike a father. He wondered if Kakashi had ever viewed him as a son, or merely a clone of his former self who he had tried to steer away from a similar tragic path.

Naruto. He had cried out emotional words of brotherhood at the fight at the Valley of the End. But at the time, Sasuke could only have one brother, the one who had taken everyone away from him, the one he had to kill no matter what the cost to himself. Sasuke never got to tell Naruto that he had wanted to call him brother for a while now; he just hadn't admitted it, even to himself until it was too late. And now he was left with no brothers.

Sasuke paused at the third stone before letting a single thought fill his mind. While his relationship with Naruto had been much more intense, there was something about Sakura that pierced his heart. Maybe it was her attentiveness, her concern for him that reminded him of his mother. Maybe it was because she could somehow fill some of the emptiness within his heart just by being beside him. He didn't know how or why she did it, but she was special.

--

Sasuke kneeled in front of the stone marked Haruno Sakura. The surroundings were still, the first light of dawn barely creeping over the horizon. It was in these quiet moments that Sasuke allowed his memories to float back to their last interactions.

"Sasuke, please live," she had spoken to him, the last words she would ever say to him. It seemed like she was always asking things of him. Asking him for dates, asking for his acknowledgment, for him to repress the curse seal, to stay…with her.

Would he have been happy if he had stayed? Would the shadow of his past ever fully pass over so he could experience the joys of the present? No, he had to leave. _'I had to leave then,'_ Sasuke assured himself shakily.

'_But I didn't want this,'_ he lamented as his fingers stretched out and brushed the stone's rough texture, which made him recall when he had carefully set Sakura down after catching her from Gaara's sand trap. His fingers had inadvertently encountered the soft feel of a few strands of hair.

The hair that she had cut in the Forest of Death, marking her decision to find her courage and protect those who had been protecting her. Sakura had been so cut and bruised when he woke up. Subconsciously he wanted to make up for not being there to guard her like he had in the past. Even though he could rarely express it in words, he had always wanted to take care of his teammates, not let anything bad happen to them. He had to shove that side of him into the deepest recesses of his heart and mind when he left Konoha, and he'll never forgive himself for his actions at the Valley of the End – all the more reason at the time for him to only push them further away from him. But he always cared. Always.

Always...always be happy together, she had offered _that_ night.

If only it were raining now. It always seemed to rain when he felt this way, when he couldn't hold his emotions in check. When he visited his home after he woke up after the massacre, at the end of his battle with Naruto. But the only other drops present were the dew resting peacefully on the grass underneath him.

That night he had left, Sakura had said that without him, she would feel as if she was alone. Sasuke wished more than anything that he could tell her that even in death, she isn't alone. A part of him would always be with her, with all three of them.

"I thought you'd be here." Sasuke stiffened slightly at the feminine voice behind him. It always took him a few seconds to bring himself back to reality from his mournful reverie. He remained kneeling and silent, but turned his head to face back at her.

"Come on," the girl whined, "you know it's well past the time when our team was supposed to meet. You're the one who insists on meeting so early in the morning because you have your duties later. But we always find you here instead. Are you serious about being our teacher?"

Sasuke turned his attention back toward the marker stones before him. "Yeah, more than you could know," he mumbled, barely audible to his companion.

The teenager gave him a puzzled look before replying. "You always say the weirdest things, Hokage-sama. Come on, the boys are waiting back at the training ground and probably getting in a fight while we're still here talking."

"Hn," Sasuke answered in compliance. But before he stood back up to leave the Uchiha complex, Sasuke paused to gently place the flowers he was still holding in the little vase sitting in front of Sakura's stone.


End file.
